I'm slowly losing my mind.

Along with every other parent in America, I suppose.

And maybe not so slowly, really.

'Cause, if I'm honest, in the last three weeks, the sh*tshow that is

parenting during a pandemic has turned into a sh*tstorm, and I, for one, was not prepared for such a disaster.

Or rather, for me to be such of one.

And the house.

And the kids.

Anxious, control-freaks like myself DO NOT do well with

unforeseen,

uncontained,

inescapable downpours of crap.

A house already bursting at its seams with the accumulated clutter created by five humans and dog can't take all five humans and said dog spending all day, 'err day all up in it.

Fun-loving,

adventure-seeking,

outing-crazy,

socially needy children DO NOT do well when they are bound to the same dirty walls and wiped-out adult day after day.

Shiitake is hitting the fan, and I'm out of wipes,

candles,

Febreze,

the mop is missing,

and the vacuum isn't working --

at least that's how it feels.

Like I was/am totally and completely ill-prepared for the day-to-day.

A day-to-day and hour-to-hour I cannot predict or plan for.

As I said, I'm slowly losing my mind.

But, pandemic or no pandemic, maybe we all always are.

Maybe, just perhaps, we've got to lose it a little bit, to find that we've been wasting our minds' energy trying to

control the uncontrollable,

force the unenforceable,

and fix the unfixable.

BUT, we can get some sanity back, if the only things we try to effectively manage are

the thoughts in our head,

the attitude we present,

the behavior we exude,

and the love we give.

When your world has been rocked,

your current reality has got you feeling down,

and you feel like you're drowning in stress,

you stay up and afloat by

accepting what is,

saying "eff-it" when it comes to what's not,

and focusing on gratitude in the minute.

Easier said than done, I'm sure, but absolutely worth a shot.

Speaking of shots, is 9 am to early for Tequila? Asking for a friend.